Circular Logic
by iristigerlily
Summary: The Doctor gets confused and Tegan gets closure.


For lotus79 in misscam's Easter Egg Fic Exchange.

* * *

Circular Logic

_She steps off the train, bundle of presents under her arm. Warm evening air greets her as she starts her walk to her grandfather's house.  
She's halfway across town before she dives into the bushes, breathing heavily. She waits until Tegan has passed before she dares to breathe again.  
Wide eyes and beating heart, she stashes her packs in the bushes before cautiously checking every street corner for home._

* * *

"Why can't I choose?"

The Doctor didn't look up from pressing numerous buttons on the console. "What do you mean"  
She walked around the console to where he was working – or pretending to, at least – and repeated her question;  
"Why can't I choose where we go?"

This time, he did look up. "Don't you want to go to Locheton"  
Tegan sighed exasperatedly. "Yes, but could you do a quick detour"  
The Doctor looked her in the eyes. "Of course, Tegan! Give me the co-ordinates of where you would like to go. Anywhere. Just eight numbers and

we can be on our way"  
She stared him down through gritted teeth. "Don't patronise me, Doc"  
"Do you know the co-ordinates?" he said calmly.  
"No." she said, waiting for the sarcastic remark.  
"Well then, we are in a bit of strife." it came.

She crossed her arms and stood still and silent for a moment.  
"I just want to go to my grandfather's in Little Hobcolm." She finally spoke through gritted teeth.  
The Doctor didn't reply.  
"My calendar," she said, gesturing to the corridor and presumably her room, "says that it's Easter"  
"Easter?" the Doctor queried. "The ceremony with chocolate and bunnies"  
"Yes." Tegan replied in exhasperation.

"Little Hobcolm, did you say?" the Doctor asked.  
"Yes"  
"Right then."

Tegan felt the TARDIS' background noise increase in pitch as she moved through the vortex to the destination.  
When it slowed to it's usual hum, she looked at the Doctor.  
"Are we there"  
The Doctor gestured to the doors with a smile on his face. "Little Hobcolm, Easter Sunday, 7pm, 1985"  
"So you didn't need the co-ordinates?" His smile faded at her expression.  
"Well, the TARDIS can lock onto certain"  
"Rubbish!"

Tegan turned on her heel and stormed to the doors after slamming the lever down.  
"You are impossible!"

* * *

_She leans against the wood. The blue, familiar timber, humming with life and mystery. She circles the box, brushes her fingers along the textured surface. She comes to the front – if there really is a front on a box – and smiles at the familiar and missed text on the phone booth._

_She grabs the key from her pocket and opens the door…  
_

* * *

It was only a few minutes before Tegan appeared in the doorway again. He was still at the console, and still pretending to work. He noticed with some confusion that she is wearing a pair of blue jeans and an olive-green shirt, instead of the former multi-coloured outfit.

He decided not to point them out, because he knew that any comment on a woman's dress would inevitably end in an argument, and he had one to apologise for.  
"Tegan, there you are," he started after a full minute of uncomfortable silence. "Is everything alright?" So he was procrastinating. _So sue me_, he thought.

There was no reply, so he continued. "I… I'm sorry that you stormed out like that"  
"What?" Tegan asked, surprised.  
He paused. "Just now. You wanted to see your grandfather"  
Tegan was silent for another moment, so he spoke again.  
"I didn't mean to treat you like—"

And, once again, he was interrupted, but he was incapable of protesting, seeing as Tegan had crossed the room and firmly planted a kiss on his mouth.  
After a moment, he pulled her back. "Tegan!" he admonished. She looked fine to him, but her actions were contradictory to usual. Normally, she would storm out of the TARDIS onto whatever planet they were on (he always made sure it was safe), he would be angry for the next few minutes (punching the console was frequent), Turlough steered clear of both of them (he learnt this the hard way), then Tegan would come back, both would apologise and life would go on.

But the way she whispered "Brave heart, Doctor." next to his lips before diving into another kiss, and the way it was desperate and burning, and the way he iwanted it/i… was all to different.

Ah well, this was the best damned apology he ever had.

* * *

_Eyes closed, his lips on her shoulder, she rakes her fingers through his sandy-blonde hair. As he trails across her clavicles, she pushes him down beneath her and grins as she caresses his sensitive spot at the base of his neck and he groans beneath her._

_Her eyes open as she sighs and he smiles, his teeth a stab of white in the darkness. Then she kisses him breathless and collapses next to him, still smiling.  
_

* * *

The Doctor was smiling to himself. Like he had a private joke and no one else understood. How Tegan knew how to drive him crazy, he had no idea. He didn't know he had such a spot on his neck, but she used it to her full advantage. Another mystery was how they made it to his room, but he had no doubt Turlough had heard something. There had been no questions asked, either. She didn't seem drunk or otherwise intoxicated, he'd noticed. Just… different.

The sleepy thought crossed his mind that she was either possessed by the Mara again, but the trail stopped as she shifted next to him. She rested her elbow on the pillow and her head on her hand. She looked at him with the same smile on her face.  
"What?" he grinned like a schoolboy.  
"You're so…" she started, but trailed off. Her face fell serious and almost sad. "Lucky." She concluded.  
He gave her a confused look. She just sighed and waved her hand. "You'll get it someday"  
He decided to let it go, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" he asked in a teasing-all-seriousness tone.  
"No," she smiled, "Just that it wasn't as Loris-Seven."

And with that, she rolled over and the Doctor heard her breathing even out to the point of slumber.  
He was thoroughly confused. He was sure he'd never taken her to Loris-Seven, and he definitely hadn't done what he'd thought she'd implied.

The other sleepy thought that crossed his mind was that this wasn't his Tegan. A paradox for some reason; a cross in the timeline.

But maybe he was wrong.

He gave her a quick kiss on the bare shoulder before rifting off to sleep himself.

* * *

_As soon as she hears his breathing slow and his hand goes limp beside her, her eyes open. She has to leave, and soon. No notes, just slip out and pray she doesn't cause a paradox. Maybe he'll think it was all a dream, just like she did once._

_But as he moves in his sleep beside her to drape an arm around her waist protectively, and she feels his breath warm in her ear, she decides that she can give in and remember these last few moments with him._

_Just a few moments…  
_

* * *

As the Doctor opened his eyes, he realised that he was in his bed with no clothes on. A second realisation came when he noticed that he was the sole occupant of the bed. Tegan's clothes were gone, as well. Gingerly hopping out of bed, he picked up his own clothes off the floor, chair and bedpost where they had somehow ended up the night before. He made his way through the corridors of the TARDIS, and found the console room.

Nothing.

With a sigh, he knew exactly what had happened and cursed himself for his stupidity. Just as he was in the middle of punching the console, as he so regularly did, the doors opened.

* * *

_"Sorry." She looks at the TARDIS behind her remorsefully before walking away and not looking back._

_She finds her Easter presents right where she left them under the bushes. She walks to the train station through Little Hobcolm, feeling much more_

_complete than she did before. She had finalised everything she wanted to do or say in London the day the Daleks invaded.  
_

* * *

"Doc?"

He looked up and met Tegan's gaze. She was wearing her multi-coloured outfit again – or still – and looking at him confused. He knew he looked a wreck, with his shirt hardly done up, his trousers in need of an iron and his jacket askew.  
"Doctor?" she repeated, a tone of worry creeping into her voice.

"Tegan," he composed himself and cleared his throat, "How would you like a trip to Loris-Seven?"

_"Goodbye, Doctor."_

The End


End file.
